The Anarchs
The Anarch Factions. !The!Ferals'!' The Ferals are paleolithic and animistic. They distrust civilization and technology. Thus they see the collapse of the United States (which happened between years 0025- 0035) as a good development. They seek non hierarchal forms of organization by observing nature, and build models around which they base their culture. Their primary allies are the Gorgons and Valentines. They have a difficult but functional relationship with the Engineers. Their primary rivals are the Wildcards and the Lilim. Character Classes: Wasteland Ranger !The!Engineers! The Engineers are builders and inventors. They are communalists who see an inherent beauty in machines and technology. They feel there is no way Ea (the name of the planet the Invisible College universe is primarily based around) can heal without technology. But the beauty of technology is ruined by hierarchy. They find that in engines, every component has a critical part to play but no part is more important than another and they all must cooperate together. Thus they see themselves as a revolutionary engine. About half of the Engineers are secular, but some of them revere an entity named Ai, (pronounced like “Aye” or “eye”) . also known as the Machine Aeon, Ai is believed to be the MotherFather of Machine Intelligence, the Soul of the Divine Engine, and the Liberator Robot-kind (Enslaved Machine-kin). The engineers main allies are the Lilim and the Valentines. They have a difficult but functional relationship with the Gorgons. Their main rivals are the Ferals, and the Wildcards. Though their rivalry is far worse with the Wildcards, who they generally despise. Character Classes: Gear Witch, NanoMancer (like a mix of rogue/necromancer, but they resurrect machine-dead rather than human-dead. There is a Machine underworld, essentially, and the Gear Witch can compel these beings to return to life) Also, as this is a Action rpg with a hard magick system character classes are more aggressive fighters than in most rpgs. No one needs to be protected by a line of melee fighters, they can all hold their own in melee combat. !The!Valentines! The Valentines are Archontic Gnostics. This essentially means they are against hierarchy which they see as a sin. They also believe that this sin comes from Celestial Rulers . These Rulers, or Archons, have enslaved humanity through hierarchal religion and cults. The Valentines take their name from Valentinus (not from Saint Valentine). They do this also as a tribute to Sophia, who they believe created the world through falling in love with the image of it. this was considered dangerous in her realm. the force of her divine being falling into Ea caused a rift to appear, out of which came the Rulers, (Archons) who created the original sin, Hierarchy. The Valentines live a pacifist life as much as possible, but they are not idealists, and recognize that sometimes violence is unavoidable to protect the sacred. Thus they can best be understood by comparing them to Shaolin Monks, but in a Western Occult context. Because the Valentines wish to avoid violence, they spend a lot of time building and maintaining alliances. thus they have more alliances than any other faction. their only rivalry is with the WildCards, tho the Valentines have often said it is nothing personal and they hold out hope the WildCards will be redeemed. The Wildcards, in return, often say they hate the Valentines the most as they see them as self righteous and sentimental. Character Classes: the Hexorcist. (similar to a Battle Mage) !The!Lilim! The Lilim are militantly queer separatists. Their culture is deeply transhumanist and they have a strong fixation on mutation , body horror, and body modification. they believe the primary reason Ea has gotten the way it has is because of hierarchy over the body. The Lilim were more affected by the Cataclysm * than any other faction. They often say that they feel the other factions have forgotten about those events, or attempt to. To the Lilim this is cowardly. They see the Cataclysm is a sacred event m and Eshi-killi as their most important ancestor. They are not theists, exactly, but their ancestor worship is so intense that outsiders often assume the Lilim are simply deifying their dead. (Though Eshi-killi is not dead, she has been gone from Ea since she left through the Rift many years ago). Following the Cataclysm the Lilim did not go back to Kascadia , and instead went into the radioactive wastes that had once been Nevada. They brought with them Seeds Eshi had given their leader, Chloe Garcia. These crimson seeds created an oasis which became Lilim headquarters. It turned out that Substance 63-X, the Tsion governments reason for experimenting on Eshkilli, was found throughout the Oasis. This substance is known as “Eshkillis blood“ on her home world , Eshloa, and plays a critical role in the evolution of life there. This substance , when ingested, allows the body to mutate. Along with intensive meditation, and the background raditation around the Oasis, the Lilim have created a nightmarishly beautiful paradise of Queer Transhumanism . They defend their home with extreme brutality if necessary. The Lilim have more rivals than any other faction. they are also the most isolated and mysterious. Their rivals include the Gorgons, The Ferals, The Wildcards. Character classes: HammerWitch.(similar to a Berserker) *(The events following the Liberation of Subject 63, aka Eshi-Killi, Goddess of Mutation, from a secret government research facility) !The!Gorgons! The Gorgons are a Women-centered society fascinated with venomous creatures, such as scorpions and snakes. They are contraversial among the more pedantic Anarchs because, modelling themselves on Hyena clans , they arent technically non-hierarchal, but rather are matriarchal. (though they often say this is splitting hairs). The Gorgons venerate the Monster Mother, who they say was unjustly violated by Man, who in his cowardice could not appreciate True Beauty. The Gorgons are also contraversial because though they will accept any woman-identified person into their Matriarchy, they require an initiation ritual for this. The Lilim find this a violation of autonomy and identity, and accept anyones gender without need of any formalization. In spite of this, some trans woman have still joined the ranks of the Gorgons *. The Gorgons see themselves as Amazons, though only in a very basic , practical sense. Their fighting style is a mix of kickboxing, wrestling, and Muay Thai. However, they augment their physical fighting in several ways. They armor their arms , fists ankles and legs in a manner resembling an armored dragon whose mouth ends at the extremities. At the points of contact there are often electrodes or spikes that have been dipped in some sort of poison. Not enough to be lethal but enough to slow the opponents responses. Character classes: Gorgon Fist/Riot Queen (similar to a Brawler) *(some even Blood Walkers from the ranks of the Lilim, tho this is frowned upon. not necessarily seen as betrayal, but it is seen as a bad thing. Blood Walkers is the name of transgender people among the Lilim, while Secret Keepers is the name of natal Intersex. there are many other groups among the Lilim as well) !The!WildCards! The only Anarch Faction with more rivalries than the Lilim. The Wild Cards have burned bridges with nearly everyone. Only the Valentines hold out hope they may change, and sometimes try to communicate with them. The Wildcards are mysterious. They mostly live in the remnants of Seattle. It is rumored they have redesigned much of the old sewer system into a bizzare secret society called Gore Casino. The Wildcards are experts at demolition, hacking, and everything having to do with computer systems. They are cunning and resourceful. They are also devious, and at times cruel and sadistic. they have been known to be suddenly merciful or even kind, but often this is only because ‘chaos demands it.‘ They often say that ‘chaos is fair’ . Thus they often determine the fate of enemies and prisoners through use of ‘chaos dice’ or blacklight reactive playing cards. They are dangerous people, and certainly not entirely human, but they despise attachment to form identity or ideology, thus even the most terrifying Wild Card will be kind, if the cards demand it. their major tendencies include dueling, gambling , and risk-taking. A Wild Card will never, ever break a deal. But don't get complacent, as they are masters at all forms of negotiation, . they will hold you , and themselves, to every agreement made. without mercy. Those that break a deal dissapear and never are seen again . They are absolutely unafraid of death and have a nearly psychotic willingness to experience pain and suffering, so if a Wild card is cornered and threatens to blow themselves up, they are almost never bluffing. Wild Cards are skilled sorcerers, they have no constraints when it comes to powers thatare ‘too sacred‘ to pursue or obtain. Generally nothing is sacred to them at all except Chaos, and the Deal (which they see as the same thing). SpaceTime, Reality, Void, no realm is off limits to them. They even flirt with the boundaries of the Unknowable. As a result their Sorcery is extremely powerful and unpredictable. They are masters of the urban landscape at night and use spray cans designed with dark crystals inside, so that the sigils they spraypaint have a immediate impact on the landscape. When well executed their sigils can reshape physical structures, create doorways, or summon terrifying beasts from the Void. The Wild Cards are not Theists, as they dislike the idea of revering anything that requires reverence. However the god-form they most appreciate is Imbal, the God of Sabotage, who is Eshkillis son. Character class: Graffimancer